Postgraduate Innovation Fund Award

Background

The Department of Medicine (DoM) at the University of Toronto has set a strategic goal to enhance the quality and quantity of research and scholarship in education. With the advent of major changes to residency education, such as Competency by Design, new theories, technologies and innovations are prompting residency programs to take an innovative approach to educational design, implementation and evaluation. In 2009, the DoM established a funding source specifically targeted to residency program innovation: the Postgraduate Innovation Fund. The first award was given in 2010.

The Postgraduate Innovation Fund (PGIF)

The department's PGIF fund has been developed to encourage and enable program directors and other faculty engaged in postgraduate education to demonstrate leadership and innovation in their respective programs. A total budget of $20,000 will be made available each year to support scholarly work and innovation in DoM residency programs; each proposal can request up to $5000.

Eligibility Criteria

Applications for the PGIF can come from program directors directly or from any faculty engaged with postgraduate education (e.g. members of the residency program committee) with written support from the appropriate program director. While senior level residents are not permitted to apply directly, residents are encouraged to apply as a co-applicants with faculty.

Applications should meet all of the following criteria:

The initiative is a novel innovation and different from what is currently done in the program.

The initiative must help the program meet an accreditation standard or address a documented program need in an innovative way.

The initiative must be in line with one of the Strategic Priorities of the Department

The initiative must be based on at least one of the following

Evidence from peer-reviewed literature

Established best practice

Established theoretical foundation

There must be a clear plan to assess the outcome of the initiative.

There must be a clear plan to disseminate the results of the initiative in a forum that benefits programs throughout the DoM and postgraduate medicine in Canada. This need not necessarily be through a formal peer-reviewed venue.

Selection Criteria

Decisions for funding will be made by the a PGIF Awards Committee chaired by the Vice Chair for Education.

Criteria for selection will include:

Academic rigour of the proposal, with a focus on justification as described above, including a relevant literature review.

Feasibility, including track record of the applicants

Potential impact to the program and postgraduate medicine.

Preference will be given to:

Rigorous proposals

Proposals for which there is no other obvious source of funding.

Programs who have not secured funding through the PGIF in the most recent two years.

Proposals with the potential for wider dissemination (e.g., in a peer-reviewed publication)

Initiatives that have committed matching funds or in kind support (including from Division Funds).

Initiatives that will be completed within one year.

PGIF Award

Awards will be made annually in amounts of a maximum of $5,000. As many initiatives as possible will be funded.

Application Process and Requirements

A description of the initiative and methods to be used in its development and evaluation

Description of the potential for impact on the program and externally

Dissemination plan

A timeline

A justified budget, including identification of any matching or in kind support (please use the budget template)

Letter of support from the program director, if applicable (i.e., if the applicant is not the PD)

Intent to submit ethical approval and/or a copy of REB approval, if applicable. Evidence of REB approval, if applicable, is required prior to the start of funding of any successful project.

Successful applicants must be prepared to give a brief presentation at the Department of Medicine Program Directors' Meeting one year later.

Example of Initiatives

Examples of eligible initiatives include: developing new assessment methods, new teaching resources such as web-based modules where none exist, simulation cases, etc. Research projects (including those in education or QI) may also be eligible if they will have direct impact on a program, which should be clearly described in the proposal.

Examples of ineligible budget expenses include: equipment not tied to a specific innovation, normal program operating expenses, expenses tied to program growth, conference attendance or travel.

Previously Funded Innovations

Year

Program

Innovation

2018

Emergency Medicine

Putting faculty first: A novel strategy for assessment tool development

2017

Geriatric Medicine

Validity, reliability, feasibility, and acceptability of the using the Consultation Letter Rating Scale to Assess Communication Competencies among Geriatric Medicine Postgraduate Trainees

2016

Nephrology

Developing an integrated hands-on dialysis training program for nephrology fellows

2015

Geriatric Medicine

Evaluation of a Twitter-based complement to the traditional geriatric medicine journal club

2014

Clinical Immunology & Allergy*award deferred

Implementation and evaluation of an anaphylaxis simulation-based teaching and assessment tool for allergy residents

2014

Endocrinology

Assessment in the “real world”: Physician and resident perspectives on novel tools for assessing resident competency on an (ambulatory) dndocrinology rotation

2013

Cardiology

The Benefit Of Checking With A Checklist: An Analysis Of Eye-Movements

2013

Respirology

Implementation and evaluation of a pilot standardized pulmonary procedural curriculum for postgraduate trainees in adult respirology

2012

Cardiology

Electrocardiographic Interpretation Skills of Cardiology Trainees: Are They Competent?

2012

Emergency Medicine

Evaluation of a novel competency-based curriculum for cricothyroidotomy training using in-situ simulation: a randomized control trial

2011

Cardiology

Incremental value of a skills-based portfolio on a cardiology resident’s interpretative and technical skills in echocardiography

2011

Critical Care Medicine

Implementation and evaluation of a simulation-based standardized procedural training program for postgraduate trainees in the ICU

2011

Geriatric Medicine

Use of video-recording technology and Ttam StACERS to improve competencies in communicator and collaborator roles in an interprofessional setting

2011

Nephrology

The nephrology CanMEDS OSCE: An innovative examination designed to assess physician competencies in non-medical expert roles

2010

General Internal Medicine

Hybrid simulation for the combined assessment of procedural, communication and collaboration skills

Application Submissions

Applications must be received via email, to the director of postgraduate subspecialty programs, by the deadline.